Denis Shapovalov was due to face Fabio Fognini in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters but the Italian dropped out, leaving him with little time to prepare to face Joao Sousa.

However, the Canadian carried over his good Rogers Cup form from last week to beat the Portuguese in three sets after losing the first and will now face Lucas Pouille for the first time in his career.

Still only 20 years old, Shapovalov took a set off of Dominic Thiem last week in Montreal and has hard-court form this year after a semi-final exit to Roger Federer in Miami and a round of 16 loss at Indian Wells.

LUCAS POUILLE

Lucas Pouille defeated American Denis Kudla in straight sets in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday before playing out a long and arduous three set Doubles match on Tuesday with compatriot Adrian Mannarino.

It remains to be seen how much Pouille has left in the tank after three sets against Horacio Zeballos and Diego Schwartzman that featured two tie-breaks and a championship tiebreak.

The 25-year-old Frenchman is 13-15 in 2019 and has had a remarkably inconsistent year having reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open while also exiting nine of his tournaments at the earliest opportunity.

THE PREDICTION

Lucas Pouille and Denis Shapovalov are meeting for the first time in their careers and on their most successful surface this year in what should be a fantastic match for the watching fans. Both have a tendency to lose focus at key moments, while possessing all the ability to go deep into tournaments like Pouille did at the Australian Open this year and Shapovalov in Miami. Just three ATP world rankings separate Pouille at 31st with the young Canadian at 34th and there will be little to separate them on the court too. It could be either player winning this on the day, but with just four and three of Pouille and Shapovalov’s last ten matches seeing an extra set respectively, this should be over in two.

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